Betting On Super Bowl LVIII Sees a Record $185.6m In Bets

The Super Bowl, officially hosted by Las Vegas this year, brought in record betting total and small income, regardless of the forecasts that bookmakers across the state would experience a financial hit from the game.

Record betting total:

Almost 24 hours following the 25-22 overtime triumph of Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on the night of February 11, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) commented that bookmakers received $185.6m in bets on the game. In addition, said wagers turned into income of $6.8m, with the retention % of 3.7%.

Furthermore, the research note issued on the morning of February 12 by Chad Beynon, the gaming analyst of Macquarie Securities, read that approximately 60% of sportsbook clients have placed a bet on the aforementioned Kansas City to win the game outright or cover the spread, where the chances were bigger on the cash line. Also, Beynon calculated that sportsbooks across Nevada experienced a loss of 4% on all bets, which wasn’t “as bad as our worst-case scenario.” However, looking at his projected total of $1.5bln in wagers put on the game on the national level, said loss turns into a calculated $64m.

Relatedly, the Super Bowl is believed to be the single-game event with the most wagers per year at Nevada bookies, with large wagers coming from high-rollers and celebrities. Sportsbook operators in Las Vegas revealed few millions dollars bets on the weekend’s game. However, another advantage of the game is that it lures fresh football fans and sports gamblers who comment that this game is the sole wager they make for the duration of the entire year.

Beside the aforementioned record-setting wagers for the Super Bowl, the coverage of Super Bowl by the CBS Sports was the most viewed telecast ever, pulling in an audience of 123.4m average watchers across every platform, involving Nickelodeon, Paramount+, CBS Television Network, NFL and CBS Sports digital assets, involving NFL+, according to the National Football League (NFL).

Prior to the announcement of the Nevada’s Super Bowl betting results, the forecast by gaming analysts was that the final result had benefited the wagering public and caused the financial damage to some sportsbook operators. But the wagering line moved slightly when it was established on January 28. However, early in the game, a slight movement occurred, with the 49s being the favorites from 1 or 2 points by anywhere at various bookies.

Breaking the former record:

Nevada’s betting total broke the former Super Bowl record of $179.8m wagers set 2 years ago, aka back in 2022, when the Los Angeles Rams, managed to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium. Then, Nevada’s bookies managed to earn $11m, i.e. 6.2% of every wager in 2022.

In 2023, the sportsbook in Nevada had a 3.6% of $153.2m wager on the Chiefs final win against the Philadelphia Eagles, with the result of  38-35, in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale at State Farm Stadium. However, bookies in Nevada have seen a lower Super Bowl winning %.

During 2018, bookies had only 0.7%, over $1.1m, of the $158.6m in bets put on the win of the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots, with the result of 41-33.

The state’s biggest hold % of 16.5% occurred 2014, aka 10 years ago, when the Denver Broncos suffered a 43-8 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks. Bets exceeded $119.4m and sportsbooks earned $19.7m.

Relatedly, bookies in Nevada have only lost money on Super Bowl twice since the aforementioned NGCB has started monitoring the game. In that sense, during 1995, bookies experienced a loss of nearly $397.000, when the San Diego Chargers were defeated by the 49ers with the result of 49-26. Nearly $70m were wagered on the said game. Then, during 2008, bookies saw a loss of $2.57m on the $92.1m amount wagered, when the Patriots were defeated by the New York Giants, with the result of 17-14.

The Chiefs’ win benefited gamblers outside of Nevada:

Sportsbook operators across the state have seen a surge in fresh clients, due to the spread of legalized online sports wagering to over 50% of the population of the U.S., in addition to ever-growing interest in Taylor Swift’s blossoming romance with Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end. Also, the game had “interest from a whole new demographic, mostly women. We view Super Bowl LVIII as unequivocally positive for sportsbooks,” Beynon wrote.

Chris Krafcik, the sports wagering analyst at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, commented that the focus on identical game parlays – many bets on various aspects of a game that are linked – revealed a favorable result. The primary reason for this is that a large number of Super Bowl’s star players finished under their projected totals. And only 4 touchdowns were achieved in the game, according to The Nevada Independent.

Moreover, in his research note, he formally quoted 1 sportsbook official as saying: “The star players going under helped stop the bleeding a bit but [it was] still a bad outcome.”

Overtime period took its toll on the sportsbooks:

Wagering operators have commented that overtime time frame has damaged bookmakers. The reason for this that it has provided some players extra opportunities to exceed their expected yardage totals. On that note, Krafcik said that operator told him: “The Chiefs winning pretty much any way was going to be a bad result for [the sportsbooks].”

Relatedly, the 1st Super Bowl to include overtime period was in 2017, aka 7 years ago, when the Atlanta Falcons were defeated by the New England Patriots with the result of 34-28. The sportsbooks in Nevada earned $138.5m and officially held 8% of all wagers in the said year.

The geo-location firm that tracks and confirms the accuracy of online sports betting and is based in Vancouver, GeoComply, commented on February 12 that bets in the U.S. grew were up over 22% during the weekend, with sports formally averaging 15,000 per second in the minutes that occurred ahead of the game’s kickoff which started at 3:40 pm.

Additionally, the aforementioned firm, commented in the statement, that it was able to detect an overall of 8.5m active accounts nationwide, where online sports wagering is officially legalized, which is a 15% growth compared to the Super Bowl that took place in 2023. Commenting on this, Anna Sainsbury, CEO of GeoComply, commented in the aforementioned statement: “The continued transition to the legal market set the stage for a historic first Super Bowl in Las Vegas, and the record-breaking results we saw did not disappoint.”